Finishing Clark

AND THE MAYFLOWER DESCENDANTS OF RUTH FULLER FRANCISCO

(Author's note: Chasing the rabbit...)

As always, unapologetically unedited.

As weird as it sounds, we genealogical types tend to become obsessed. Say what?! Yes, it's true. Any said "obsession" can then be said to have come out of nowhere, even in the midst of some other "obsession." There really isn't any rhyme or reason- it usually grabs hold of our gray matter by means of some puzzle we're Hell-bent to chase, or some question (inane though it may be) that simply doesn't want to resolve itself. Sometimes there is an answer. 

Most of the time there is not.

This has happened to me twice (maybe three times?) as I have navigated the Edward Fuller Mayflower line through "Old Henry" Francisco and his wife Ruth Fuller, and just this week in further identifying Annie Bell (Cisco) King as the daughter of Clark Sisco/Cisco. 

See: https://atroubledsage.blogspot.com/2026/05/finding-annie-and-the-mayflower.html

However, something has nagged at me a bit. 

And that something or someone has been Clark Cisco.

Now he (Clark Cisco) hasn't nagged at me in the usual way. I mean, I am comfortable with his birth record contained in the Bible Transcriptions (above) and obtained through the D.A.R. records of Harriet Leas Hatfield. Harriet's made my job easy in "getting back" to Ruth Fuller and "Old Henry." And now, with the recent clarification of the date of death and family relationship status of Annie Bell (Cisco) King to her uncle Calvin, Clark Cisco's brother, and with them all living in Madison, Jefferson County, Indiana, and them all being butchers by trade, well, I'm good with the whole of the line despite whatever variables the Tribunals of Plymouth might decide to throw against it. I certainly believe that I can easily and successfully argue the Mayflower line.

Nah, what's nagged at me is Clark's name: "Shelton Clark Francisco/Sisco/Siscoe/Cisco."

Okay, you can forget all the variations of "Cisco." Those are easily enough either verified or tracked through Clark himself, or through other family members. Hey, it was a time of "spelling like it sounds" and shortening up anything that took too long to write. I'm good with all that.

But "Shelton Clark?" 

Why that name? And, why doesn't it ever seem to repeat itself?

On the surface, (and perhaps legitimately so) I can hear the Tribunals of Plymouth asking me:

"What proof do you have beyond the Bible record that "Shelton Clark Cisco" is "one and the same" person as the hero of this tale, "Clark Cisco?"

Well, after I remind them of all the other instances as mentioned above of Clark, his family, and their occupation and locale, I would likely also come away with wondering the very same thing too. So I began to look at why (or how) "Shelton Clark" ever got his name- and indeed why it never seems to have repeated itself. And the answer came to me in the strangest place.

The 1830 U.S.Census for the North Liberties, an area of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio.

Check this out:

Look who lives next door to Clark Cisco/Sisco's father John Sisco and family: None other than "Shelton Clark"

It doesn't take much to connect the dots here that Paige's ancestor "Clark Cisco" was (originally) named after the next door neighbor... But that feels a bit random...I mean won't the Tribunals of Plymouth want something more?

Of course they will. When don't they? 

Truthfully, there wasn't (or isn't) much else I could find. But a quick perusal of FamilySearch.org did reveal this:

Above: United States City and Business Directories FamilySearch.org entry for Shelton Clark, 1831.

It isn't much - but it does solidify the relationship, a business one, and likely that of a very dear and good family friend- indeed a best friend.

So just who was Shelton Clark, the man John Sisco/Cisco would name his son after? The records at this point get even more scant. First though, I want to show you something else. As grim account as it is, records do reflect that John Sisco/Cisco died at Cincinnati in December of 1834.

This means that business partner and best friend Shelton Clark was likely set out on his own. 

Indeed, there is no further accounting of Shelton Clark, save for this I found in the newspaper a few years later.

Sadly, there is nothing more. 

It is possible of course that this "Shelton Clark" is not "one and the same" as the Shelton Clark who lived in Cincinnati and worked and boarded with John Sisco, father of "Shelton Clark Sisco," John the brother of Calvin Cisco- but it seems pretty darn likely.

The fact that he was "aged about thirty years" is very telling too. This means he was too young to appear in the 1820 census and died before the 1840. What a short young life- it feels so sad to me.

Yet "Shelton Clark" now plays his own role in the Mayflower story of his namesake's descendants. Somehow, some way, there remains a bit of old Shelton in the abiding honor and in the ambiguity and often times oblivion of one simple life.

Rest in Peace Mr. Shelton Clark.

☮